Big app download hogging your data? Google Play Store may finally let you pause it

Last month, Google released a Play Services update and noted that users would have the option to add home screen widgets for apps while they were being installed from the Play Store. Although we couldn’t get a glimpse of the feature back then, we now have and can tell you how it likely works. We’ve also come across a few minor tweaks, including the upcoming ability to pause downloads mid-process.

We recently stumbled upon a new snackbar message that now appears at the bottom of the screen when you install an app. The message simply tells you that widgets are available for the app and gives you a button to add widgets to your phone’s home screen.

Instead of revealing a new menu, tapping that button takes you to the standard widget picker sheet, showing all the different widget options for that app.

There are a few caveats that we noted with this functionality. First, the snackbar message doesn’t appear for all new apps being installed. Second, it appears only once, and you might not see it again if you miss it. However, that doesn’t limit you from adding widgets to your home screen — you just have to do it the regular way.

Additionally, we’ve seen another minor tweak to the size of the app’s description. While the description doesn’t change, it now appears much bigger — almost as big as the app’s title. While both changes are already live, another one could be joining the ranks soon.

To help you download big apps or games in multiple stages instead of in one go, Google might add a Pause button to stop the download momentarily. At least that’s what we expect it to do. For now, however, we couldn’t get the feature to work as expected, and we believe Google will improve it over the next few Play Store updates.

We will ensure we inform you once the functionality to pause downloads rolls out to the public.